Connecticut state government official Mike Lawlor broke the news at 5:30 a.m.: "Rep. Dargan in hospital following accident." Who could have known that such a sparse and harrowing tweet was actually a hilarious April Fool's Day prank?

Yeah, kind of in poor taste. But hey, at least Rep. Dargan took it fairly well, noting that he's usually the one doing the pranking.

State Rep. Steve Dargan, D-115, from West Haven, was reached by telephone and confirmed he was fine and did not have any accident.

"I am fine. Lawlor must have tweeted it. Every year I come up with something (for April 1) and text or call 20 or 30 friends," Dargan said.

While Lawlor told the New Haven Register that his joke was "all in good fun," some people weren't too thrilled with a phony report about a serious accident. Perhaps that's why Lawlor tweeted, "I apologize to everyone for the dumb Dargan-Lawlor April fools day joke." The "prank" tweet has been deleted.

OK, Mike, all is forgiven. But in the future, if you're a government official, maybe don't jokingly tweet that another government official is in the hospital. No matter what day it is.